Beet flume control mechanism



y 1939. G, J. DALEY BEET FLUME CONTROL MEC HANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledDec. 15-, 1937 G. J. I

BY b

ATTORN EY July 11, 1939. G, J DALEY 2,165,349

BEE'I mung CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Dec 15, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented July 11, 1939 BEET FLUME CONTROL MECHANISMGustave J. Daley, Stockton, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, toThe Stearns-Roger Manufacturing Company, Denver, 0610-, a corporation ofColorado Application December 13, 1937, Serial No. 179,540

13 Claims. (01. 302-14) This invention relates to devices to control themovement of objects that are being flumed in a trench or ditch, andparticularly to' a. device developed to control the movement of sugarbeets A plurality of radial arms 1, 90 apart about a the shafts, arearranged in vertically spaced sets thereon, the circular paths of theirtips approaching close to each other centrally of the width of which arebeing fiumed in water to the factory. the flulne. The arms on the twoshafts, while 55:

After the beets are transferred from the farm on the same level, aredisposed in staggered or to the sugar factory site it is customary tostore intermediate relation to each other horizontally them in bins orpiles, commonly called beet sheds, or so that theyfollow each othersubstantially 45 from which they are fiumed into the factory apart. 10proper, at a rate'that will supply the normal de- The shafts are rotatedat the same speed but 10 mand of the plant. Heretofore it has been thein opposite directions and so as to maintain the general practice tocontrol the flow of beets by above relation of the arms constant, bymeans the use of a finger type' gate. This gate lowers of bevel gears 8on the shafts above the bearings into the flume, retaining the beets butallowing 5. These are engaged by bevel pinions 9 fixed on the water torun through'until such a time as a horizon al shaft Hi jo nalled on theframe more beats are needed. Then the ate is rais d, structure. Theshaft H! is driven at an adjustallowing the beets topass through, ablespeed by an electric motor and reduction Thi method h provenunsatisfactory i gearing unit 5 l of common character mounted 7 manycases, due to the intermittent starting and an allXiliary a e l2 up ta drom the stopping f the flow ofbeet and th accompianyframe structure 6.The direction of rotation of :20 ing uneven volume-of feed. 7 the shaftsis such that the arms I as they turn The main object of thisinvention isto provide t 11119 Water flowing along the fiume, move in a flow controldevice so arranged that a close regh 'direction of the flow. ulation ofthe quantity of be t being fiumed Stationary clean out and deflectorbars I 3 are t the factory can b btai d, as 11 as disposed between thearms of the two shafts, be- '25 tinuous even flow of the beetsirrespective of the s provided W Collars l4 S o d the volume or quantitythereof being passed through shafts. The bars extend downstream to theadth nt i jacent junctionsof the walls of the flume proper A furtherobject of the invention is to. produce with those of the bays, where thebars are formed 31) a simple and inexpensive device and yet one with rsecured to i l s rips 5 n in which will be exceedingly effective for.the purr ov d pp r l6 c r d t s d junctions. pose for which it is.designed In operation, as the beets in the flume, moving These objects Iaccomplish by means of .such along with the water flowing therethrough,reach structure and. relative arrangement of parts as the rotating a yare received between ad- 35 will fully appear by a perusal of thefollowing 'jacent arms on the two shafts, which form in specification dl i c effect turnstiles, and pass the beets through in In th drawingimil h r t r of reference controlled order. and in a definite andconstant indicate corresponding parts in the several views: o regardlessof h Vol e o boots in the Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of thecontrol fl m ahead The beets after passing y the s 40 device installedin a time cannot possible be drawn and carried around the 40 Figure 2 isa sectional plan on line .2-2 of Fig. 1. ys Owing to the bars t3, thevertical spacin Referring now more particularly to. the ,eh rwhich isless than the diameter of any beet, as is acters of reference on thedrawings, the fiume I, the spa of the arms m v s- The V01- h re sh n sbein m d f n r t i i m d ume of beets passing the control mechanism atat a suitable point in, its length with opposed latany im -a d a t erequirements of the fafitory eral bays 2 or substantially semi-circularform, m y necessit te ay be instantly altered by althe centers ofcurvature being outwardly of the o ng e Speed the drive unit, W t utalterplane of the sides of the fiume proper. ing the evenness of theflow of the beets.

Turnably mounted in the bays centrally of the At times a large quantityof beets may be held curvature of the bays are vertical shafts 3,jourback behind the control device, thus forming a 50 naled at thebottom of the fiume-baysin bearsort of dam with a possibility of thewater and ings 4 mounted in the concrete and at the top of beetsoverflowing the fiume. To avoid this, a the flume in bearings 5supported on a suitable grating I1 is mounted in the flume below the topframe structure 6 resting on the flume and a porthereof and ahead of thecontrol mechanism. tion of which overhangs the flume and bays. Thisprevents the beets from rising to the top 55 of the fiume, and onlyallows the water to do so.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, a flume to carry a flow of water and objects in andmoved along by the water, and a driven turnstile structure mounted inthe fiume and arranged to allow of an unrestricted flow of the water butrestricting the movement of the objects to an extent determined by thespeed of the turnstile structure.

2. In combination, a fiume to carry a flow of water and objects in andmoved along by the water, and a driven turnstile structure mounted inthe flume, and including a pair of vertical transversely spaced shafts,sets of radial arms projecting from the shafts, the arms on the twoshafts being arranged in predetermined relation to each other and beingspaced apart vertically a distance less than the thickness of an objectin the water, and means to rotate the shafts in opposite directions andat the same speed.

3. In combination, a fiume to carry a flow of water and objects in andmoved along by the water, and a driven turnstile structure mounted inthe fiume, and including a pair of vertical transversely spaced shafts,vertically spaced sets of radial arms projecting from the shafts inevenly spaced relation circumferentially, the paths of rotation of theouter ends of the arms approaching close to each other, and means torotate the shafts in opposite directions and at the same speed; the armson the two shafts being arranged relative to each other so that whenturning toward each other they are disposed in staggered relationship.

4. In combination, a fiume formed with a bay in one side, a verticalshaft mounted in connection with the fiume adjacent the plane of saidone side thereof and substantially centrally of the width of the bay, aplurality of vertically spaced sets of radial arms projecting from theshaft, and of a length such that the path of rotation of their outerends extends a predetermined distance toward the plane of the oppositeside of the flume, and means to rotate the shaft in a direction to causethe arms, when turning into the fiume, to move in the direction of flowalong the fiume.

5. A structure as in claim 4, with fixed diverter bars extending fromthe shaft between the arms to the side wall of the fiume at thedownstream junction thereof with the wall of the bay.

6. In combination, a fiume formed with a pair of opposed bays in itssides, a pair of vertical shafts mounted substantially central of thewidth of the bays and outwardly of the plane of the sides of the flume,vertically spaced sets of evenly spaced arms radiating from the shafts,the circular path of the outer ends of the arms closely approaching eachother, bevel gears on the shafts above the arms, bevel pinions engagingthe gears, and a drive shaft on which the pinions are mounted, saidpinions being arranged to cause the shafts to rotate in oppositedirections but at the same speed and the arms on the two shafts beingdisposed so as to turn past each other in a predetermined staggeredrelationship.

7. In combination, a fiume formed with a pair of opposed bays in itssides, a pair of Vertical shafts mounted substantially central of thewidth of the bays and outwardly of the plane of the sides of the fiume,vertically spaced sets of evenly spaced arms radiating from the shafts,the circular path of the outer ends of the arms closely approaching eachother, means to rotate the shafts in opposite directions but at the'samespeed and maintaining the arms on the two shafts in a constantrelationship to each other and so that said arms when turning past eachother in the fiume are symmetrically staggered.

8. A structure as in claim 7, with stationary bars disposed inhorizontal planes between the sets of arms and extending from adjacentthe shafts to the corresponding sides of the flume at the downstream endof the bays.

9. A structure as in claim 1, with grate bars mounted across the fiumebelow the top thereof and ahead of the turnstile structure.

10. In combination, a fiume to carry a stream of water, and a rotaryelement inclusive of a shaft and radially projecting arms affixedthereto, in the stream of water and arranged to allow flow of the waterbut restricting the movement of solids carried by the stream of water,according to the speed of the element.

11. In combination, a fiume to carry a stream of water, and a rotaryelement inclusive of a shaft and radially projecting rigid arms affixedthereto, said arms projecting in the stream of water and arranged toallow the flow of the water but restricting the movement of solidscarried by the stream of water, according to the speed of the element. a

12. In combination, a fiume to carry a stream of water, and a drivenelement comprising a rotary shaft and arms mounted on the shaft andarranged to rotate conjointly therewith and to move through the streamof water in a position to allow flow of the water but restricting themovement of solids carried by the water, and variable speed mechanismfor moving the driven element at selective velocities.

13. In combination, a fiume to carry a stream of water, a rotary shafthaving arms mounted thereon and spaced in the direction of their axis ofrotation and projecting in the stream of water and arranged to allowflow of the water but restricting the movement of solids carried by thestream of water, according to the speed of the element, and stationarybars between the planes of movement of the rotary arms.

GUSTAVE J. DALEY.

